The present invention relates to a device for preventing dribble of toner, and more particularly, to a toner anti-dribble device for use on fill equipment having a vertical fill funnel and auger feeding.
Image producing machines, such as copiers and printers, utilize toner particles that are fused to a recording medium by a heat sensitive fusing process. It has been known to use a vertical fill tube storing the toner for subsequent filling of a plastic tube or the like that ultimately communicates with the image producing device. A rotatable auger is disposed in the fill tube and is controlled by a user activated lever such as a pedal.
A problem occurs in the conventional apparatus in that toner may dribble between toner fills, resulting in a dirty operation requiring frequent cleaning of the toner fixture and lost toner.
Positive stop methods such as a slide gate across the toner flow can produce coarse particles because toner fuses at low pressures/temperatures.
Small diameter crossed wires across the mouth of the fill tube are sometimes used in toner fill operations to prevent dribbling between fills. This method, however, is not successful for some toners as the toner would fuse onto the crossed wires and shut down the operation.